Police couldn't do anything about the 10 crushed mailboxes along Smithfield Boulevard, or the smashed and stolen Christmas lights at several homes, but they did rescue a plywood snowman and his snow-spouse that were spirited from Ridgeland Drive to Suffolk.

"They have been returned and identified," said K.E. Beach, one of the investigating officers. "The owner was happy to see them back."

The owner of a plywood Peanuts gang was not so lucky. Two years ago, a thief stole Woodstock and Lucy from Bob Dubinsky's yard on Wainwright Drive. So this year Dubinsky tied the figures together. But the thwarted thief "kicked the head right off of Schroeder," he said.

Even public officials weren't spared: Ex-mayor Thomas Caldwell had a wreath stolen.

Total damage around town, including azalea bushes trampled while the thief or thieves ripped down some porch lights, is about $675. "These are real brazen vandals, right up in the yard," Beach noted.

Judging from the speed and size of the destructive path - which included homes on Smithfield Boulevard, Scott's Landing, John Rolfe Drive, Pagan Point and Commerce Street - police believe there is more than one holiday hoodlum in town.

They have vowed to spoil the fun of the holiday vandals, who they suspect may be teen-agers up to seasonal mischief or initiation rites for a bizarre club.

The only leads police have are some muddy tire tracks and footprints from the 800 block of Smithfield Boulevard, where the thieves' car went off the road into the soft embankment.

From the tracks, Beach knows the vehicle wasn't a truck and definitely "not a sleigh. I don't think Santa Claus would do something like that."

And, he said, the roadside imprints where someone pushed the car back onto the pavement match muddy footprints on several mailboxes that were kicked over and stomped on.

Beach reasons that someone in the group had to be fairly athletic to tackle a mailbox. "They had to jump up and kick it, so we're not talking about an 80-year-old guy."

Police believe perpetrators worked together, he said. "I think it was definitely orchestrated."

To prevent attacks, Beach advises residents to keep a closer watch on activity in their neighborhoods, and to immediately report strange disturbances to police.

If residents turn off their blinking lights before going to bed, they may reduce the chance that their house will be targeted, he said.

"We take this type of thing very seriously," Beach said. "It's something we will address and we will get to the bottom of."